


Red Eyes

by ReaderRose



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Angst, Disease, Gen, Heavy Angst, Humanity Sucks, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Plague, Rage, Underfell Asgore Dreemurr, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 13:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15171518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderRose/pseuds/ReaderRose
Summary: AUThe brief tale of a child and a plague





	Red Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I got a random prompt a few months ago and forgot to post it
> 
> Warnings: somewhat graphic injuries, blood, children in peril, implied/referenced violence (including widespread and domestic violence), angst, disease, etc. Let me know if I missed something to warn for

They decided to run. **  
**

They were just a child; it wasn’t their fault they were scared. Anyone would be scared. No one knew what this whole thing might do! And… and no one was dying, it was just that everyone was… changing.

Mothers turned angry and siblings turned violent. A town nearby was on fire. Another village was just gone, and no one knew what happened to it. People were vanishing. People were scared. But they weren’t dying from the illness. They were just turning more and more hostile and volitile and the world just wasn’t safe anymore.

And it was spreading.

Red eyes were everywhere, now, on every face they encountered, every face but their own.

They were the only one who didn’t get sick. They were the only one that remained themself, even after everyone else started changing. And they didn’t understand, but they were used to feeling out of touch and out of place, and so at first it didn’t bother them.

But someone, a scientist, frenzied and easily enraged but still so smart and determined, found a cure.

Maybe.

No one was dying. Not from the disease. It was only the things the disease made them all do. All the ways it changed them, and all the ways the people let it. But no one was dying. People were making choices. But no one was dying. People were killing. But no one was dying. People were hurting and screaming and destroying but no one was dying from the illness itself. It didn’t hurt them. It didn’t kill them! It just made people make choices.

Bad, bad choices.

But there was a cure. Maybe. And for it to work, maybe, someone would have to die.

Someone whose eyes weren’t red. Someone who was still themself, even after everyone else had changed.

They grew their bangs long. They focused on the ground. They avoided people; shied away. They hated people, but it wasn’t that same old sort of hate. They didn’t have that in their soul, and that’s the difference.

That is why the child had to die.

And they didn’t want to.

There was something about their soul that could change everything and everyone. They were supposed to volunteer. They were meant to save everyone.

But they refused.

The child didn’t want to die.

But they couldn’t hide forever. One day the person that they once called momma came with the doctor, and all eyes, bright, red, gleaming eyes, were on them. And that is when they made a choice, and decided to run.

They ran until they couldn’t anymore, and then they kept running after that. Away from their village, and away from all the knew, into the forests and bound, to the mountain, and they climbed, and climbed, fingernails broken and bleeding, scraped knees and arms and legs. Torn clothing, exhaustion, dehydration… but they didn’t give up. They kept going, though they knew not to where.

They just wanted to feel safe again.

And then they fell. And landed. And the spike of fear from the fall faded out into a tired, sleepy feeling as the exhaustion took over, and they used up their last bit of fear. The dirt was soft, and there was nowhere left to run to, and no way to get back up. They were too tired. But at last, they felt… safe, somehow. At least, safe enough to sleep.

They dreams were mostly short but pleasant, of brighter days and better futures, and the life they should have been living, before the end…

The child was found, but by a different sort of monster than the ones they ran from. These monsters were soft and kind, with sweet smiles and deep voices that sounded like honey and kindness.

They were found by the family they never had, even before. Accepting and loving in complete totality, and finally they had stumbled upon their true home.

Days were spent teaching Mrs Mom Lady how to tell all the kinds of jokes and stories they always loved, and showing Mr. Dad Guy how to garden. And most of all, they spent their time teaching Asriel everything they knew, about the surface, and being tough, and all the ways to defend himself if he ever needed to, because they both needed to be strong in this world, because things are rarely ever good forever.

Though they wanted to believe things could be good forever here, away from the humans, forgotten by history and sunlight. And things were good for now, too, and that was what mattered.

Mom Lady taught them to bake, Dad Guy taught them everything he knew about tea, and Asriel taught them how to laugh again.

And things were good.

…But they weren’t good forever.

One day, Dad Guy’s eyes turned red. They remembered the cure. Maybe. They made a decision…

But it didn’t work.

And that was the end of that.


End file.
